But this isn't the old Party. It's the Gala Kickoff Fundraiser for Karpov2010 here in NYC! It's being streamed live online, btw. Should be quite a show. Been to busy this week for proper, or even improper coverage of the US Championship and Astrakhan, but thank goodness they both have excellent web coverage, from the little I've seen. Karpov's response to Ilyumzhinov is up too, btw.
Pics and more from the party coming soon...
Elo in the house!
OLE!
Interesting video on Karpov's site. It didn't look like the vote was unanimous, but it looked like somewhere around 23 or so of the council members (or at least people sitting at the tables) were there at the meeting. It looked like a normal, open meeting to me.
watching the Karpov event. really cool ! away the old politics, welcome to new wave ! fresh air ...
Mig - it was great seeing you in person.
The voice behind the blog is as charming as the voice in the blog =)
And getting that chance for a 5 minute blitz vs. Kasparov is for me going to be a memory of a life time.
I hope to get a chance to send you some of the Rybka-Cluster games I mentioned. Advanced chess (aka letting Rybka help me hehe) is far easier than what these guys do on their own.
Thanks again for mentioning this party on your blog. I only get here thanks to your original post.
Best,
Shahar
p.s.
Your baby is super cool :) party animal
Ugh. Somehow I doubt FIDE would be better under the auspices of a irreformable intriguer like Karpov, backed by a second layer of NWO intriguers such as Kasparov, than someone like Illumwhateverov who has stabilized after making his worst mistakes early.
Unless they intend to install Mig as the shadow FIDE president if/when Karpov wins. I wouldn't choose Karpov over Illumwhateverov, but in a "lesser of two evils" vote I'd choose Mig.
Would you settle for shadow communications director, hcl?
Shahar! Hard to imagine anyone happier than Shahar was sitting across the board against Kasparov -- especially during the delay when they were laughing about the clocks being set wrong. Got lots of pics. Congrats on winning the auction for that blitz game and for holding out for what was it, four and a half minutes? Apart from their consultation games, Kasparov and Carlsen gave two-game blitz simuls. One of Carlsen's opponents was IM Dean Ippolito, who held out longest but was finished off with a nice tactic. The audience chanting "Dean! Dean! Dean!" when he was the last man standing surely is a first in chess.
They had an official photographer with a big rig running around and I'll be able to get all of those at some point. Meanwhile I'll batch process my 300 and dump them up on Picasa or something before picking out a few for various publications. Most will be too dark and noisy since I didn't have a flash rig and wasn't going to stomp in front of people for pics with an official photog there.
Any updates on things with the RCF?
Not really. My impression is that Kirsan and Dvorkovich are simply going to deny Karpov is the nominee and try to carry out a PR onslaught to that effect, which has already started. Eventually they might even get things to a friendly judge who will back them up, who knows? The question is what to do with a sitting president who hasn't been nominated but who insists on running anyway. He has control of most of the levers of power inside FIDE and could have a better chance of having Karpov removed from the ballot, or insisting he's running from France or Germany and not Russia, than vice-versa.
Since the presidential board is obviously in Kirsan's pocket, is there something the General Assembly can do to remove a rogue president?!
I find it surprising that one could easily trust the "Rybka Cluster" after the current debacles, as bugs are appearing all over the place in Rybka 4. First it gave stalemate in a trivial endgame in a live PlayChess game, and then lost badly due to time management in the 40/4 CCRL tests, so that even Rybka 3 is listed higher. Did Danailov ensure that Topalov got what he paid for, or was it merely buggy over-hyped software running on the hardware of millionaires? Do you have any info on this?
As for the politics noone removes a rogue prez by normal functioning, see Honduras. Even in so-called democracies, FDR stole all the gold in the USA on his first days in office, but noone stopped him either. The list can be extended in either way for a long time.
Hi Willy,
That live Rybka-4 game you mention on playchess was actually running on my machine back home in London :)
It was with an early beta with some major issues on time-mgmt and more. Most are getting resolved already almost daily. The current R4B8 already has none of these issues and is showing signifcantly higher ELO vs. all comers.
The Cluster is a different entity - stronger not only due to h/w but also different knowledge in it.
I have played 'advanced chess' matches vs. the Rybka Cluster and boy it is a mean machine.
Shahar (aka Highendman on Rybka forum) from JFK terminal 7 on the way back to LHR :)
Karpov needs to start running political ads like this guy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jU7fhIO7DG0
Mig, are you sure about the information Garry tells you to publish? The website of the Russian Chess Federation says that even Kramnik and Kosteniuk are supporting Dvorkovich (that is Ilyumzhinov) : http://russiachess.org/content/view/4713/357
Highend, thanks for the info. I've only flown out of LaGuardia, not JFK.
You are saying that Rybka 4 is independent from Rybka Cluster now? A stalemate bug like that doesn't just crop up from nowhere (I'm maybe a hack as a programmer, but).
I can't think Dufek wouldn't be more on the ball with whatever he had, though maybe he just was only looking at openings. Thinking, maybe it's good company... didn't Kaspy famously pull a queen and bishop stalemate back in 1988 at the World Blitz in St. Johns?
If you say that the bugs are getting fixed for the public version, PR could be the nemesis. The CCRL team only entered it by accident maybe, but it's hard to delete history. I guess he had a 50% chance of Topalov winning and having lavish press, so it can't be all bad for Rajlich.
I only now have access to couple of 24-core machines (in part) for advanced chess, but maybe some 32-core or 48-core soon. The main problem for AC is no real book. Do you know if Zappa is still scaling better than Rybka beyond 8 cores? Someone should really pick up what Cozzie did now that there's so much more info out there. He always had a huge evaluation function (like the opposite bishop 3 pawns draw in the challenge match ... another Rybka PR mess).
@Greg
Mig's gone political. Play along and enjoy the second-row seats.
Perhaps Carlsen should've brushed his hair before he came to this fundraiser. The "I was partying so hard last night" hairstyle doesn't really work for a chess player in a suit. In any case, I'm very jealous. Wish I was there!
What a great event. Maurice did a great job as commentator but Carlsen stole the show when teased by Maurice about facing strong blitz cometitors: "I'm confident I'll win"
No lie!
But Carlsen's best statement was after Maurice turned over the microphone to him during the clock malfunction delay (when four minutes can seem like an uncomfortable 4 hours) and Carlsen simply said "I have nothing to say".
Now that is my kind of guy. Honest and refreshing!
"Perhaps Carlsen should've brushed his hair before he came to this fundraiser. The "I was partying so hard last night" hairstyle doesn't really work for a chess player in a suit".
His "coolness" is one of the reason he gets more media attention than, say, Karjakin (pale suits, old-fashioned hair style, married before turning 20 - not that there is something wrong with that, but it's the modern world when it comes to the media).
Yes, there is too much both suits and unfashionable sweaters in chess.
This was a terrific, exceedingly well organized event. From watching the chess antics on the stage, conversing with a relaxed and gregarious Magnus and his thoughtful father, and listening to Mig holding court, I found it most enjoyable. But there was a point to the festivities as well. FIDE will not become a professional sporting body and will continue to be shunned by corporate sponsors, to the detriment of players and fans, so long as it remains a murky organization mired in authoritarian shenanigans if not outright corruption. FIDE plainly will not become a reputable international organization so long as it is run by a figure who, as far as I can discern, the entire legitimate world media regards as a nutjob (which is an impression difficult to avoid since he repeatedly insists that he communicates with and was abducted by aliens). Anatoly Karpov's candidacy is a great opportunity for change. He has assembled an impressive team, including Richard Cohn, that I for one have confidence will not perpetuate the mistakes of what we have come to know as the Circus Maximus that is FIDE. Some have noted that nothing is certain and that there is no guarantee that Karpov, if elected, will accomplish all he hopes to achieve. Fair enough. But what is the alternative? I have yet to see a colorable argument that support for Kirsan Ilyumzhinov instead is anything but a valediction to all good sense.
Where's publicity whore Donald Trump? It's not like him to pass up a photo-popping opportunity.
There is still plenty of space for Carlsen to add sponsors' names on his jacket. The trend is getting out of hand. It wasn't so annoying when Leko had some printing stamped on the collar of his dress shirt (the shirt collar no longer having much of a practical purpose; why not use it for display?), but having printing all over the arms and chest is silly. Why wear a "businessman's" outfit, to project a professional appearance, only to be a walking billboard? If you are going to do that, you might as well adorn your garments with colorful logos, a la NASCAR.
Maybe this is the wave of the future: I an see politicians having their slogans and campaign promises enblazoned on their blazers, although they might be a bit more circumspect about who sponsors them.
Clothes are a minor point, but I shouldn't think it out of the question for Magnus to get an agreement with a big-name designer of mens clothes: free clothes plus cash in return for wearing that brand at all public appearances. (And I'm not talking about some brand with logos plastered all over it.) This kid has image potential that is unbelievable.
Flashy socialite event in New York while the real battle is fought with the teeth between bald middle-aged chess-men in the dark, humid and smelly hallways of "MM Botvinnik" chess club in Moscow.
Krisan only needs to show to Putin this picture with Garry and Tolea to instanlty get the only "vote" that counts.
Nice Playchess.com interview w/Anand. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZ6MLP5_g6c
thanks for the link srk
that is a sensational interview... Gary and Carlsen both did a bit to help Anand. wow... makes you wonder what Kramnik must've done..
wow..thanks for that. Thats interesting news.
Wow indeed! One can understand Carlsen playing 2 days of blitz with Anand to test out positions and prep for rapids since they are pretty good friends (and he did the same before Bonn), but GARRY cross-checking prep with Anand is quite something...can't imagine (neither could Anand apparently) him sending smiley's to Anand while discussing variations on Skype!
On the computing power used by Anand and Topalov - it seems that the IBM part of the match sponsorship consisted in Topalov using an IBM supercomputer! With permission from Borisov and some technical assistance: http://www.24chasa.bg/Article.asp?ArticleId=484172
The article says the computer's a Blue Gene/P located in the State Agency for Information Technology in Sofia - it's actually mentioned near the bottom of this Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Gene
You shudder to think what the players will be using in the next title match :)
Thanks srk, mishamp..but aren't we on the wrong thread?! :)
True, but that 570+ post match thread makes me shudder :) I agree the interview srk posted is amazing! It puts a whole new complexion on Kasparov's comments on Anand's preparation when he was talking to Shipov... and I dread to think what the response of the Bulgarian media will be when they pick up that Kasparov was helping Topalov's opponent!
IBM and Rybka were helping Topalov, Kasparov and Carlsen were helping Anand - the human race isn't completely lost yet ...
"I have yet to see a colorable argument that support for Kirsan Ilyumzhinov instead is anything but a valediction to all good sense."
Funny way to put it, but yeah - that seems true. Almost too simple.
This message is for Mr. Carlsen.
As chessplayer we are, you and me (you play better that me..that's it )please I ask you do not make those comments (or jokes) about there are more people watching you three laughing and playing chess than FIDE Grand Prix....Remember you played in the beginning of the Grand Prix. I know you are a young man in life and in the chess world (even can not drink alcohol in the US yet !) but you need to respect people and projects...I am not in favor or against Mr. Ilumijnov FIDE but what he is trying to do...finishing the GP...is great.
I wish you the best Mr. number one.
Rafael Llanos.
Sherman, Texas.
Still off-topic, sorry! At a risk of great oversimplification, success in a match depends on three main factors: opening preparation, OTB strength, and "other factors" (nerves, age, physical condition, psychological warfare, Danailov, etc.) The only thing that I can gather from the match with some degree of certainty is that Anand is stronger OTB.
He is like Rybka out of Aquarium. ;)
(PircAlert offering a glass of orange juice to Carlsen)
Did anyone record the rapid games from the event? Will they be posted here (or elsewhere)?
Thanks...
Let's put pressure on Dean Ippolito to post his rapid game here.
LOL. I'm a bleeding-heart liberal and I want to fly to Alabama and work for that guy now.
POST THE GAMES!!!
It's great to see former competitors (Kasparov and Anand) working together as a team, Kasparov in support of Anand. Kasparov, it seems, is intent on leaving his mark on chess both as a player and a helper of the current and the future world champion. Undoubtedly, it seems that Anand and Carlsen will be facing each other in a world championship chess match. They are friends now and, I'm sure with Anand's character, they will remain so during and after their eventual match where the play will be the important thing, not the peripheral antics. I am very much looking forward to such a match, and I'm certain Anand will be as generous in defeat as he has been in victory.
Garry (and to a lesser extent, Carlsen) helping Anand is indeed amazing news. I think Mig needs to create a separate thread to handle that. I guess Mig also knew about it. It is also amazing that Anand agreed to share all his match preparation with Garry considering that they didn't get along well at one time (by Anand standards, I mean). It is also interesting because Carlsen is the most likely challenger and Garry hos coach. I could have understood Kramnik helping Anand for obvious reasons, but Garry?
Mig, can you share some more details now that the match is over?
Thanks,
Kapalik
Curiously enough from the Crestbook forum it seems that despite working together commentating on some of the games, and discussing openings, Shipov knew nothing about Kasparov helping Anand. His first reaction was to say it was inconceivable that Kasparov and Carlsen could have worked with him and then Anand would go and play that Grunfeld line he tried in the first game (though to be fair he was reacting to the idea that they might have given significant help, whereas it seems to have been fairly minor).
He says Kramnik helped him quite a bit during the match as well. Among other things, he advised him to stop playing that passive Slav endgame line.
I agree. The help seems to have been minor but I still have questions about Garry's involvement. The Carlsen part is easier to understand as he is a friend and agreed to be a sparring partner but I guess not much of preparation was shared.
It is also not clear how much of a help Garry was. It certainly helps to get your ideas, strategy, novelties validated by Garry but there may not have been new ideas. And from Anand's point of view, if someone of Garry's stature offers help, you don't refuse.
I am curious about potential conflicts on interest as Garry also works with Carlsen. Was Carlsen informed about it? Is all the preparation fair game now that the match is over? I was thinking that Anand would unleash most of it over the year and get his rating up. He had to hide all of it for over 2 years and his tournament results suffered and he also was subjected to unfair criticism based on his tournament performance.
Kapalik
Hi Acirce. Where was the stuff about Kramnik helping him? Amazing ......... Just shows how much Topalov was seen to have dirtied his bib in Elista. Very trusting of Anand to include all these guys in his inner circle so to speak.
There's a transcript of what he said now: http://chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=6346
I don't think big iron is that relevant in OTB chess today, at least on a cost-per-gain basis, but then who said everyone who is 2700+ is rational about this? You get a marginal gain in opening novelties, which need to be absorbed/remembered by the human in any case. The psychological edge is having a huge computer could count though.
OTOH, heavy hardware could be skyrocketing in correspondence. Just a cycle ago, you could perhaps get by with just a few quads, but now to compete for #1 do you need an octal per game going 24/7, plus a 32-core box or more (owned or rented) when doing interactive? You can get a 48-core box for something like $15K depending on specs, but I want to make sure Rybka (or others) scale well at that level.
To me, what Highendman does for advanced chess is much too book-oriented to correspondence. Nearly all the last top Freestyle games were draws, even with 4 different Rybka 3 "beta-testers" in the finals, and I think the big books and lack of risks were the culprit. But I think in correspondence the book is not so important, as you lose less of a significant % of time in combating any novelty.
To DOug: the event was jacket-required (but not tie). Maybe Magnus doesn't own anything else. smilley
Let me also urge Mig (if he ever reads this much down) to put up a separate thread for this very unique and historic occurance of Kasparov, Kramnik, Anand and Carlsen, 4 of the all-time top-10, operationally working together for a WCC.
I think this is huge as a story, and maybe also huge signalling a new era a of world champion conduct and relationships.
LOL, it tells me a lot of people hate Topalov.
Also suggests to me:
1. Kasparov thinks Topalov cheated in the past - cuz the article implies he seems to have offered Anand free advice.
2. Kramnik's not so ambitious for the WC title if he's so willing to help Anand. Perhaps he's inwardly concluded that he'd never reach the apex again?
"2. Kramnik's not so ambitious for the WC title if he's so willing to help Anand. Perhaps he's inwardly concluded that he'd never reach the apex again?"
Either that or he didn't really fancy Topalov and Danailov in control of world chess :) Or the prospect of Elista mark II if he qualified for the next match!
I was very surprised to listen to Anand's take on things (re. K and C helping him). I think Carlsen is very lucky to have two of the best players in the world (past-K, present-A) in line to help him out.
I will not be surprised if Anand helps Carlsen prepare for the candidates tournament. Any other champ would probably balk at helping a potential opponent, but I think Anand is beyond that.
Whatever happens, I hope everybody opens a can of whoop-ass on Punkalov. The biznatch deserves it!
Hi Willy,
I beg to differ. I've beat the last advanced-chess champion several times, thanks to getting him out book as early as possible. And did the same to Cluster Rybka. At a 60+1 time control. As to correspondence time control - check out the following link to a game where the Rybka-forum correspondence team, at 24 hour per move, lost to my Sicilian Wing gambit - again with the intention of taking them out of book early.
Here are few relevant links, if you care to review the games:
Correspondence time game - Wing - the game:
http://rybkaforum.net/cgi-bin/rybkaforum/topic_show.pl?tid=13190
And the post mortem analysis thread:
http://rybkaforum.net/cgi-bin/rybkaforum/topic_show.pl?tid=14708
And as to a game beating the Cluster at 60+1 t/c:
http://rybkaforum.net/cgi-bin/rybkaforum/topic_show.pl?pid=171489;hl=Highendman%20Rybka%20cluster
And overall advanced chess games vs. strong 'centaurs' - forcing opponents to leave book early;
http://rybkaforum.net/cgi-bin/rybkaforum/topic_show.pl?pid=177301;hl=Highendman%20Rybka%20cluster
A nice win is vs. Eros - the current advanced chess champion is included in the link above. You'll see it there.
My point is that Advanced chess, imho, has more to do with strategy than with book prep. If both sides go book prep - it draws.
Btw - if anyone cares - here are some photos from the Kasparov/Karpov/Magnus event (page 2):
http://rybkaforum.net/cgi-bin/rybkaforum/topic_show.pl?tid=16758
Best,
Shahar
"Also suggests to me:
1. Kasparov thinks Topalov cheated in the past - cuz the article implies he seems to have offered Anand free advice. "
Top class logic in action. Free advice=belief in cheating. Scintillating.
Holy crap...check out mishanp's chessbase link!
So we have:
Topalov-Cheparinov, Rybka guy, Volcano,IBM {add BCF biznatches to the list}
Anand- Kasparov, Carlsen, Kramnik, Giri, Kasimdzhanov, Nielsen, Wojtaszek and Ganguly.
Good story!
Mig, dude...start another thread man!
it is almost unfair - K&K&C&A against the lone T.
Topalov should start asking himself why everyone dislikes him so much.
The amusing thing is that Kramnik couldn't control himself any longer after seeing the openings :) So he won the Baku tournament while he was helping Anand..
Kasparov, Kramnik, Carlsen, Kasimdzhonov (3 ex world champs and one future world champ) helped Anand! I guess Karpov and Spassky are probably not strong enough anymore..
Topalov must be shocked... He will probably feel like there's been a conspiracy against him
wow........ what an interview on chessbase. Fascinating read. Mig..new thread.
Topalov must be feeling already that he has no chances of winning any future world championship, since the world will be against him even if gets a 224 core computer. Hope he realizes that it is like so due to his manager and he gets rid of him.
NYTimes coverage--check it out
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/18/a-wall-street-presence-in-the-world-of-chess-politics/
Wow!!
Just finished reading the ChessBase article;
GK, MC, VK, AG - impressive list - I think this has asmuch to do with abhorrence with Topalov's and his manager as who Anand is as a person;
Incredible - the funniest part though is GK lecturing about opposite bishop colored endings to V Anand
Equally interesting is how Kramnik could not hold himself back and willingly shared some "heavy-duty ideas"
Truly a unique collaboration.
I agree with others - this latest mouth watering Vishy news is thread-worthy. Apparently, Carlsen had helped Vishy before the Bonn match as well, so C offering help is no surprise. And Krammy...well, that just *had* to happen. Kaspy is a surprise, though!
now that is one hell of a lineup
awesome reading on chessbase, seriously. can't wait part ii
There isnt much in part II about seconds (listened to it on playchess). It is more about the use of computers and that he came to know that Topalov's team had a 112 core machine and thats one of many reasons his team decided to not go to Grunfeld sharp line for a while until they got themselves a 16 core machine (from Hiarcs). Its good, but what is at chessbase at the moment is the best read.
"Kasparov, Kramnik, Carlsen.. helped Anand!"
and Kasparov and Karpov are friends now !
What a lovely, "cooperative game", chess has become! A family pastime with no serious ambitions and thus with no potentially bitter rivalries. It now even helps people socializaing, making friends and bonding !
This is a unintended side-effect of the crushing power of computer chess. Fritz and Rybka has humbled everyone and made it appear as ridiculous all their posturing, pretensions and rivalries.
A great example of how nice guys can finish first...partly because everyone wants to help them!!!
But you're right that the effect of feeling humbled by computers must have a role to play in this new found spirit of cooperation as well!
I think the Anand/Kasparov/Carlsen nexus is astonishing. But an aspect that no-one has raised yet, I think: Kasparov obviously has a huge amount of chess experience and knowledge -- much of it presumably cutting-edge -- still kicking around in his head. But what's he going to do with it? I can completely understand the feeling that, if Kasparov himself isn't going to use it, he might as well pass it on somehow. (It must be a bit like being a former US president: you have all that experience, another 30 years of life ahead of you: what are you going to do, just sit on your ass?...)
It will be interesting to see when other chess sites will pick up this story of amazing collaboration.
Or, to finish up the thought: some of Kasparov's motivation might presumably be vanity -- a wish still to prove his worth, to show that he's still a "force". Some of it must,of course, stem from a desire to influence the outcome of the match (either to show that he still *can* influence matches, or simply because he doesn't want Topalov to win, etc.) But, as someone who's written an entire book series about his predecessors, I bet there's a strong sense in Kasparov of leaving a legacy, of somehow bequeathing his remaining knowledge to the game -- a responsibility, if you will. I don't know, just a thought...
@Kasparov's motivation might presumably be vanity
He doesn't seem to find anything serious to do for himself since he retired. Indeed he tried politics for a while but without much success. So now he moved to doing good deeds in exchange for
attention. He is into helping everyone Magnus, Karpov(for FIDE), Anand..but he is making himself looking like a fool with this newfound subservient attitude.
Maybe the guy just passionately loves chess and enjoys being involved. Or is that idea just too "out there"...personally I like his continued dipping in to the chess world.
WOW. Can you imagine getting help from the likes of Kasparov, Carlsen, Kramnik, Giri, and the rest of his "regular" team? I'd have to say that there's no way Anand could have lost! And I can't imagine that Topalov is too happy to hear this...
Theorist - LOL - Kasparov's laying out the groundwork on his third series: My Great Successors, featuring Kramnik, Anand, Carlsen, etc.
I bet Topalov is already gloating over the fact that it took so many champions to beat him and yet he lost only by a point.
Bad news for Danailov though ... if so many are against Topalov, then what chances does he have in an election??
Either be the King or the King Maker!
It's good that Anand won. If he had lost, the fact that all these great players helped him would not have been disclosed.
Go Karlanandov!
@I bet Topalov is already gloating over the fact that it took so many champions to beat him..
He may even think that this was the "Fischer against all"-theme replayed and that just as Fischer he will shown right on the long term. All seem to have teamed up against the guy who wants to impose new (sofia)-rules to force everybody play, who wants to make chess a profitable venture, and so on.
After reading Anand's interview, I could feel that human emotion that was flowing all around him. Kaspy, Kramnik, Carlsen so many elite players eager to help him on their own. Anand and actually feel frustration/excitement/happiness...based upon Anand's play during the match. Amazing! I actually became emotional reading the interview. Both Kaspy and Kramnik gained several notches of respect in my eyes. Especially Kramnik, who exchanged notes with one of his direct competitors.
One well known facet of human life is visibe here. One should be a gentleman like Anand and earn friends unlike Topalov who lost many friends and his 100,000 Euros could only buy him a Rybka Cluster but no well-wisher and definitely not a victory.
@After reading Anand's interview, I could feel that human emotion that was flowing all around him...
You are a very sentimental person. Wsn't Kasparov who defined Anand a "cofeehouse player" ?
Not that he was right or wrong but how was that helping Anand 's emotional flow ?
Given that Magnus has worked with Anand before, which was very well known, and that Nielsen is a close common denominator, I don't find the world number one's assistance at all a surprise. Ditto for Kramnik, but for separate but exceedingly obvious reasons. Kasparov? It is equally well known that, when he retired, he felt that Vishy was sort of an heir apparent. Moreover, if Garry's heart and faith for the near future are with Magnus, would he really want Danailov standing between Magnus and a shot at the championship? Heaven forfend! In short, I find nothing the least bit surprising about any of this latest news.
The issue of the trust that Vishy reposed in these three honorable gentlemen is a different story and, while not suprising to me, it is nevertheless notable. As Chessbase put it, Vishy's human cluster outperformed Topolov & Co.'s expensive 112 core computer cluster. This makes Vishy's well-deserved victory all the more gratifying.
@human cluster outperformed Topolov & Co.'s expensive 112 core computer cluster...
figurately speaking, in fact the cluster is playing some +3500 ELO and it could easily defeat them all in a simultaneous , perhaps do so even while running at the same some analysis for Topalov in the background AND managing Aruna's yahoo messenger-chats.
Now there are rumours saying Anand also received help from Gandhi, Einstein, Jesus Christ, Beethoven and Mike Tyson. Unbelievable
"figuratively speaking, in fact the cluster is playing some +3500 ELO and it could easily defeat them all in a simultaneous , perhaps do so even while running at the same some analysis for Topalov in the background AND managing Aruna's yahoo messenger-chats". Maybe ovidiu. But the funnniest part is that even with such a powerful cluster helping him, that idiot topailov ( or is it toiletlov ) still lost. Does that make you sad ovidiu?
Well, unfortunately, Beethoven wasn't all that useful since he couldn't hear the 31 questions Nielsen came up with for him.
Now that you mention it, that would be worth another rant from the BCF. Danilov seems strangely silent. What gives?
If the thing can easily beat every chess playing entity on the planet, how the heck can it be rated at all??
I'm also curious to know what the strongest computer-entities will discover in 10, 20 years. Knowing nothing at all about computers, I have read enough comments by experts to know they won't "solve" chess. But what concepts, techniques, ideas can they discover that is right now unthinkable? Makes for interesting speculation.
Anand's "human cluster outperformed Topolov & Co.'s expensive 112 core computer cluster" ...
...not in a head to head battle, but as a resource in preparing one of the contestants in the championship match. Let's not change my original context.
In sum, it is important to have friends and, in this regard, Topolov & TeamToilet seem to have been blown off the board by Vishy.
This team-up is quite like the famous basketball dream team of 1992. So many giant names in one team. If i were Topalov, i would be feeling very very depressed indeed. But.. on the other hand after reading his post match interviews, i think he might be shouting "cheating...cheating....danailov do something...get me a rematch!!"
Possibly Topailov knew all this after bugging Anand's hotel room or calls...
Article at Chessdom on the super computer employed by Topalov and his team
http://players.chessdom.com/veselin-topalov/topalov-blue-gene-p
No matter the capability of the silicon monster, I'm glad it is always going to come down to OTB moves.
What this means is that playing with black, opponents of Topalov will have better chances by varying their reportoire. Exactly what Anand did, much later into the match series. This also explains why Topalov stayed with the same opening structures as white (people were scratching their heads about why he was sticking to Elista slav structure) and allowing Catalan as black.
It took 2 losses (about 5- 6 days of time) to come up with something on the black side of Catalan.
Ovidiu's comments made me really think; how about Rybka 4 performing a simul against a line-up of World Champions? That would be an amazing stunt! Imagine literally "turning the tables" on World Champions! Imagine Deep Rykba 4 playing against Kasparov, Karpov, Kramnik, Anand and Spassky in a simul; that would be a very interesting twist! Not sure how you could do that technically (without using five different CPU set-ups, but if it could be done it would be an incredible first.
"NYTimes coverage--check it out
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/18/a-wall-street-presence-in-the-world-of-chess-politics/
very cool. models with backless dresses & chess?
When I reread the Chessdom article I was struck by the following:
1. Omission of Kramnik's name from the list of seconds (includes MC, GK, and AG) since the article references Chessbase Blog. How could they have missed Kramnik? Selective retention perhaps!! Or obligations to Topalov and team since Chessdom was their official partner and they could not mention Kramnik in any form or shape!!
2. Stating the collaboration of all these non listed seconds in a non chalant manner, as if it is an everyday occurance. They devoted 5 to 6 paragraphs on technical aspects of the IBM super computer. Wither good chess journalism?
3. Describing Topalov's revelation of his use of the super computer as the "bombastic news".
Hmm, this also sheds a different light on the Kramnik interview during the match (which I had translated):
"They play my openings" - the particular Nimzo line in game 9 (borrowed from the Kramnik-Kasparov match) may actually have been Kramnik's own suggestion?
"The Slav endgame is a good choice for a WCh match" - here Kramnik was bluffing?!
BTW, the interview was by IM Stefan Loeffler, Frederic Friedel couldn't have done it (as he had secret inside information) ... .
I don't see how Kramnik hurt himself and his future WCh chances by helping Anand:
- the match is ... when? Late 2011 or 2012 - by then he (or anyone else challenging Anand) will need some fresh opening ideas and surprises. Maybe Vlad gave away some of his prep for Dortmund 2010!?
- In return, maybe he also got some inside information from Anand: Skype conversations were dialogues, not Kramnik monologues - Anand may have told him a bit about his approach to the match. Similarly, Kramnik had benefitted from being Kasparov's second.
About Anand helping Carlsen for the candidates matches: One likely semifinal is Carlsen-Kramnik, and it seems Anand owes "something" to both of them but maybe a bit more to Kramnik - Carlsen played blitz with Vishy before the match, Kramnik came up with specific suggestions during the match. So should Anand help Carlsen against Kramnik??
But he might help anyone against Topalov because he doesn't like him (Topa's post-match interviews enter the equation), and help anyone against Aronian because he doesn't like to play a match against Levon .... the other semifinal could be Topalov-Aronian, what to do??
The previous paragraph is only 50% serious ,:)
"models with backless dresses & chess?"
AND big bucks. Very unchesslike.
you may also want to compare the piece with the relevant wikipedia article (hmmm, it stands "cc attribution-sharealike" at the bottom, lol, the second part fits reasonably :)). at least polgar gave the source after hitting ctrl+c...
btw, i read from some hardcore topa fan back during the match that no way these sites were biased in any way, hehe. pflops, ftw! :D
Kosteniuk letter in support of Dvorkovich:
http://reports.chessdom.com/news-2010/kosteniuk-supports-dvorkovich
Sounds like her support of Dvorkovich is based on the fact that he will pay for her training camps.
I don't understand the last part of Kosteniuk's open letter. Karpov just wants to 'remain in power'?
The Chessdom types keep on asserting openly that Kramnik is supporting Ilyumzhinov. Has anyone seen anything to back this up?
I can see this presenting a dilemma for Vlady if he sees Karpov as too closely aligned with Kasparov. But Ilyumzhinov, on the other hand, is openly aligned with Danailov, who, in comparison to Kasparov, certainly represents a far more direct and present danger to Vlady's interests. I reckon Anatoly and Vlady get along quite well. Plus, Vlady must believe that Anatoly would bring a better player perspective to FIDE administration than the status quo. I would have predicted that Vlady might just sit this one out without expressing a clear view for one candidate or the other.
He said something about Dvorkovich not being treated with respect and, according to his information (wrong, it seems), a majority of delegates not being invited to the meeting - but didn't say he wanted Ilyumzhinov to be a candidate, and certainly didn't say he wanted him to win.
On a related note... does anyone have a link to anyone in the Karpov campaign mentioning Kramnik as a supporter!? I'm sure I read it somewhere, but can't track it down.
That should be "didn't say he wanted Ilyumzhinov to be RUSSIA'S candidate" - he mentioned it's good to have competition.
"models with backless dresses & chess?"
Exactly. This wasn't an auction to raise $10,000 or $20,000 since the dozen models would alone cost more than that. (Never mind the banquet hall, food, etc.) It's a high-end, well-done P.R. event financed by you-know-who.
It is one thing for Kramnik to express sentiments that he has no personal beef with Dvorkovich, that he has respect for his office, or that Dvorkovich ought to be treated with respect generally. It is quite another thing for the Danailov-influenced chessdom site to repeatedly characterize Kramnik's view as full support for the nullification of the public RCF vote to nominate Karpov in favor of Dvorkovich's unauthorized nomination of Ilyumzhinov.
If the latter is not what Vlady intends, then he should speak out clearly and publicly and not let himself be used repeatedly as a propoganda tool (such as chessdom's latest assertion that Vlady completely agrees with Alexandra Kosteniuk's latest self-interested drivel).
If chessdom's assertions about Vlady's views are not correct but through his silence he permits himself to be used in this way, then one might be compelled to conclude that (1) his "respect" for Dvorkovich might be better characterized as fear and (2) he is now willing to submit to being treated like a pawn by Danailov.
I can't imagine that Vlady will permit this.
"This wasn't an auction to raise $10,000 or $20,000 since the dozen models would alone cost more than that. (Never mind the banquet hall, food, etc.) It's a high-end, well-done P.R. event financed by you-know-who."
Accusing others of naïveté? Well welcome to Wall Street, buddy. You have to spend money to make money. The event yielded more than ten times your initial estimate - $125,000 - and more support will be forthcoming from those who attended. Was it PR? You bet it was!
Yes, it does sound like Kosteniuk's support is based on her own castle in the air which is dependent on Danailov's financial support. And yes, her letter of self-interest is a jumble of confusing statements.
Well well well... if this isn't shaping up to be the geo-political contest of year 2010, between:
Chessninja/Karpov/Kasparov/"U.S.A." versus
Chessdom/Illumwhateverov/Putin/Russia
with lots of side-battles; e.g. those who hate Danailov (Chessbase), fond of Dvorkovich (Kramnik, Kosteniuk).
Getting to be more interesting than Fischer v. USSR... (especially with the Number Ten Blondes thrown in.)
So did Magnus meet up with his long lost cousin (Matt Damon) when he was in the US? Does anybody know ?
Also doesn't Anand have a deal with AMD why couldnt he get them to create a server cluster with a few 100 cores for himself I wonder....
Shahar, I take your point about book-prep for advanced chess, but still wonder if you are mixing apples with pears. Also, the freestyle finals involve multiple games in a tournament format, and so the tendency is much more to play for two results than would be in a one-off, an a logical way to do this is to turn to book. The other problem with Freestyle is half the field was playing deep B97 lines when possible. With 10 players it became like -- draw with the other contenders, and try to beat the perceived weakies. I admire your fighting spirit, but structured tourneys, either freestyle or correspondence, take a different approach than what could be called skittles. BTW, I tend to prefer skittles myself, for the fan value. smiley
@blue_gene: Did Topalov hire anyone to actually program the 8192 cores? Pretty useless otherwise...
Who do you mean? Lord Voldemort?
LOL. Anand on Kasparov: "I mean he has even learnt to be a bit diplomatic."
What a powerful force Danailov is!
“has he [kasparov] actually expressed his greediness? anywhere?
i had to chuckle when i read this on the chessvibes site. especially coming from you (jussu) an informed and objective blogger!
two examples of garri’s greediness come to mind. although i can assure you there are many more.
1) all the ranting and raving about the money he could not get for the match against shirov.
2) i think the contractual agreement for the match against anand in london was so flagrantly one-sided (in kasparov’s favour of course), so grotesquely unfair that anand, who's obviously not a money monger, simply refused to sign it and walked away from the the deal. the match.
I was a bit vague in my comments yesterday as I was busy writing this (which was slightly overtaken by events!): http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/russian-media-on-the-dvorkovichkarpov-controversy/
I tend to agree that Kramnik should clarify his position, but on the other hand there's nothing wrong, at least until very recently, with favouring Dvorkovich. Bakh also had a pretty mixed reputation.
The problem is that two contests have become entangled. The vicious rivalry in the Russian Chess Federation (as of now Dvorkovich has seized command of the offices, seems to be pressuring delegates to change their positions & has found some lawyers to declare Karpov's nomination invalid - on the incredible grounds that the RCF supervisory council "didn't exist", if I understand e3e5.com correctly), and the likely battle between Karpov and Ilyumzhinov for FIDE. At a guess Karpov/Bakh will technically lose the first but now have much better chances in the second.
Chessdom are taking some advantage of the confusion with their implications, but they haven't come out and said e.g. "Kramnik supports Ilyumzhinov". You do have to wonder about the PR drive for Dvorkovich, though - what do they have to gain in Bulgaria!?
McGourty offers a perfect summary of Dvorkovich's position! "Karpov’s nomination wasn’t valid as I wasn’t at the meeting, though even if I’d been at the meeting it wouldn’t have been valid as the federation’s new charter hasn’t been approved, and even if the charter had been approved and I’d been at the meeting it still wouldn’t have been valid… as we’ve already chosen Ilyumzhinov."
and i say why change horses in mid-stream? things seem to be moving in the right direction: kramnik-leko, sophia, kramnik-topalov, mexico city, kramnik-anand, anand- topalov, anand-2012.
our current world chess champion, viswanathan anand, is ready, willing, and able to defend his title against the the player who comes out on top of the current cycle. we're confident no more bullsh** excuses (sorry you're not good enough, nope can't play you cause there aint no money it, etc.) will be made to avoid playing the next challenger who has earned the right to contest the wcch.
this appears to me a great improvement since the klan era, since we rid ourselves of kasparov and a step toward normalcy, crediblility, fairness in the world chess.
i can’t believe european and american chess federations are backing the kgb (karpov, garri, bahk), two well known classless thieves.
and what’s about all this talk of decency, democracy? horse sh…..
“birds of a feather flock together”.
"birds of a feather flock together."
Is this another veiled reference to Ilyumzhinov's flying saucers? An explanation as to why he was chosen to be abducted by aliens?
krmlin interference..? I did not read the article on chess base: (http://chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=6354)..but "breaking news..kremlin" is 'nuf said'.
I mean cant kasparov, kramnik. karpov and hopefully now anand as WCC since 2007 or so just shun FIDE.. I mean screw FIDE.
screw these IDIOTS.
Some crazy shyte is going down in Russia...
http://chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=6354
"Breaking news: Kremlin seizes Russian Chess Federation
21.05.2010 – Last week the RCF nominated Anatoly Karpov as their candidate for the Presidency of FIDE. This was verbally contested by the supporters of incumbent Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. Today black suited men from the private security firm “Peper” arrived at the Federation’s offices, kicked out the regular security guards and sealed off some rooms in the building. Report in True/Slant + Karpov's reaction."
Good grief.
I wouldn't bet on Karpov...
Maybe now's the time for something like the PCA. This is just preposterous.
"Kremlin seizes"? What kind of nonsense headline is that? Sigh..
You should bookmark Julia Ioffe's blogg for first hand news about Kremlin's handling of the nomination process within the Russian Chess Federation. It might get ugly.
Here is the link to her blogg: http://tinyurl.com/2g26h7m
Read the links in her article, too. The trail leads all the way up to Putin...
Yep, it's even worse if you actually read the full blog Chessbase are quoting... including gems like:
"Ilyumzhinov is a chess fanatic who has made chess mandatory in Kalmyk schools and, as president of FIDE for the last 15 years, and, with the introduction of “speed chess,” has revolutionized the organization to the popsy level of speed dating."
Their breaking news "today" should also, at best, be "yesterday" - this took place on Thursday.
Heavy. If they hire thugs to evict Alexander Bakh out of his office in Moscow, how will they handle foreign low-profile delegates in Siberia?
It's sufficient to convince many delegates they better vote the Russian way in Khanty-Mansyisk.
One of the curiosities of the FIDE presidential election is that it's held at the end of the Olympiad, so there's plenty of time to "convince" the delegates! I'd guess the carrot's more popular than the stick, but it does provide the perfect opportunity for all kinds of underhand wheeler-dealing.
"Thugs" (or "kicked out" from the blog) doesn't appear too accurate, by the way. One of the first Russian sources, Denis Bilunov, described it as follows: http://denis-bilunov.livejournal.com/76704.html
"Into the Central Chess House (a lovely spacious early-C19th mansion on Gogol Boulevard) came calm intelligent people in black suits who, having presented a paper with Arkady Dvorkovich's signature, changed the guard in the building." (of course he might be applying a touch of irony...)
"calm intelligent people in black suits"
Great, no reason to be alarmed in that case :)
It is an epic battle, a critical moment for the future of chess in Kalmykia, and the rest of the world.
As expected Karpov relies on manouvering, he travels a lot to gather small advantageous allies one by one until the critical mass is achieved.
On the other hand, Krisan, the unrefined simpleton, does the only thing that he can understand : he goes for direct, brutal, checkmating assault to the King's castle (that would be the Central Chess House).
> "Thugs" ... doesn't appear too accurate
How would you propose to call them? Enforcers?
Man, it would be cool to a gun-battle...a real fight with heavy duty weaponry...just like the scene from the movie "Heat". Now THAT would be some kick ass stuff!
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